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“Okay. I’m going to try to call him. But Josh, thanks for trying, anyway.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’ll be fine. Eventually. After we talk.”
Josh departed while Emily rode the elevator up to her apartment. Before she’d managed to fumble her way into the apartment with her gym bag, her phone beeped with a message. She ripped her phone from her purse, anxious for a word from Spencer. But the message was from an unknown caller. Curious at who might be texting her, she opened the message and was immediately confronted with a picture.
The image made her stomach contract, and she felt bile rising in her throat. Spencer, with his eyes closed, embracing a girl in a sexy black dress. Her arms were wrapped around his neck, and they were kissing. Unable to tear her eyes away, she enlarged the photograph. It was unmistakable. The girl was Becca. And the picture was taken tonight. Spencer had been wearing the same clothes in the lobby.
Her heart broke cleanly into a million tiny pieces.
Chapter Eighteen
Spencer didn’t get far. He walked for about twenty minutes, trying to clear his head. Why was it always Josh? Maybe it really was an innocent thing—she’d said something crazy about learning to play racquetball. But he really didn’t trust Josh. He seemed to be really in love with Charlie, but what if he gave up and decided to go after Emily again? How could he ever compete with Josh, the handsome, athletic doctor?
Then he got a text. He pulled out his phone, hoping it was from Emily. But the text was from Josh.
Spencer, Emily wanted to learn a sport so she could play with you. She said you play basketball every night. She thought if she could play racquetball, you would spend more time with her. She said it was Charlie’s idea. I was only trying to teach her. That’s all. Josh P.S. If you stay mad at her over this, you deserve to lose her.
What was he doing? He loved Emily. He didn’t want to lose her. He had to swallow his pride and go back to her apartment to talk to her. He had to tell her he loved her. Clearly. In no uncertain terms. He could tell her he was giving up basketball. He’d saved enough money he didn’t need to park cars any more, and he wasn’t going back to dance lessons after tonight. He could make do with the lessons he’d already taken.
It was only nine o’clock. They had plenty of time to talk it out. They might even have a nice kissing make-up session. He allowed himself a little smile at this thought. Why did love have to be so hard? A few minutes earlier, he’d felt like his life was over. He couldn’t think rationally where Emily was concerned. She made him happier than he’d ever been. But she also made him crazier than he’d ever been.
Once he made the decision, he couldn’t get there fast enough. He found himself jogging down the street toward her complex. He rushed into the lobby and onto the elevator, pushing the button multiple times in an effort to hurry it along. He exited on her floor and almost knocked someone down in his hurry to reach her apartment. Then, with his heart still racing, he knocked on the door.
*****
Emily stared in shock at the picture as a sob escaped her throat. She felt a blackness closing in on her. The image swam before her eyes as her tears shimmered and fell onto her shirt. She had to go. She couldn’t stay here, but she had nowhere to go. If she were home in Texas, she would get in her car and drive until her head cleared. But she wasn’t home. She was in New York City. So she headed to the only place she could think to go… Grand Central Station.
She turned off her phone as she walked to the subway station. There was no one to talk to. The only people she knew to call—her mom, Charlie, Grace—would all side with Spencer. They’d defended him every time she talked to them. “Spencer loves you,” they’d said. “He just hasn’t told you. He won’t ever break up with you. He would never leave you.” How wrong they’d all been.
He’d obviously come to the apartment to break up with her, having just been with Becca. Her stomach churned as she pictured him kissing her. She remembered Becca’s words, “He always comes back to me.” She would never have believed Becca, now she knew the truth about her. But no matter how she tried, she couldn’t think of a single innocent scenario that would result in the picture she’d been sent.
He’d acted angry about Josh, but he was probably glad to have an excuse to break up with her. Maybe he was tired of her restrictive rules. Or maybe he realized he preferred a more voluptuous figure.
She rode the subway to Grand Central, and found an unoccupied bench to sit on. Unseeing, she stared at the people herding past her like busy ants, on their way to do important things. They exuded excitement and happiness, while she felt lonely and desolate. She reveled in her wretchedness, letting her tears fall freely down her face, amazed someone could be so alone in the midst of the New York City crowd. No one noticed her crying on the bench as they hurried past her to their destinations. She was as isolated as she would have been on a desert island.
After midnight, the crowds were thinning, and she needed to find a place to go. But she couldn’t go home. The only person who might be on her side was Josh. He’d understand her misery. On their walk home from racquetball, he’d actually broken down in tears over Charlie. He’d been angry and embarrassed over his loss of control, but she’d sworn never to tell anyone. Josh would understand, but he was scheduled to work in the emergency room all night. Still, instinct drove her to go to the hospital. She could talk to him when he got off work in the morning. She left the haven of her bench, and headed to the subway train.
*****
Spencer knocked on the apartment door, shifting from foot to foot, knowing she’d look through the peephole before she opened the door. When she didn’t answer, he knocked louder. She was probably angry, refusing to open the door, denying him the opportunity to talk to her. He knocked again, louder still. “Emily!” he said. “Please! I just want to talk to you.” Still no answer. He put his ear against the door, but detected no sound from inside the apartment.
He pulled out his cell phone and called her, but it went straight to voice mail. She’d apparently turned her phone off, and she wasn’t home. With dread, he realized she must have gone upstairs to her mom’s apartment. He had no other choice but to find her and talk to her, even if it meant facing her parents.
He rang the bell at the Gherring’s apartment, wondering belatedly if he should have called first. When Gherring opened the door, his face was creased with concern. “Spencer? What are you doing here?”
“I’m... I need to talk to Emily. Is she here?”
“No, we haven’t heard from her tonight. She’s probably out with friends, although it’s late for a weeknight. She wasn’t with you tonight?”
“No, I was at a dance lesson. My last dance lesson.” He didn’t bother to hide his bitterness.
Spencer’s mind was reeling. Who would she go to? She didn’t have many friends in the city. Maybe she left with Josh. Or maybe she was with Grace. “Uhmm, okay. Sorry to bother you.”
Back at her apartment he knocked again, in a vain hope she would answer. Then he leaned his back against the door and banged his head against it in frustration before he let himself slide down to the floor. He pulled out his phone, and called Grace.
“Hey, Brother. What’s up?”
